“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
― Alan Watts, British-American Zen philosopher
Experiencing Indiana weather is to know that change is inevitable. Here in Hoosier land, it’s polar freeze one day, balmy and spring-like the next. Snow in April, heat wave in October. I think our weather adage in Indiana should be akin to the Girl and Boy Scout mottos: Be prepared. For anything.
Years ago my husband and I met a couple from Venezuela on a cruise. We kept our conversations non-controversial, discussing safe subjects, like, well, the weather. Somehow we got on the subject of TV weather casts. The Venezuelans were amused that Indiana weather was reported on and forecast every day.
“We don’t have weather reporters in Venezuela because we don’t need weather reports,” they said. “In our country, the weather is always the same.” For Hoosiers, raised on rain, snow, heat waves, hail and lest we forget, floods, that was an aha moment.
We were more than a little envious thinking about daily doses of azure sky, soft warm breezes and moderate temperatures. But, as every reader of Cinderella knows, the fancy coach inevitably turns back into a pumpkin, and before you could say Jack Robinson, we were back in Indiana, where changing weather is the law of the land.
When I found out Prime Time was changing to a new format, it threw me for a loop. What? No more special publication? Change? AACCK! The older I get, the more resistant to change I am, and you’d think it would be just the opposite. After all, once you reach your “prime,” the physical changes start coming fast and furious. Sometimes I swear I see a different (read: more wrinkles, older) woman greet me in the mirror every morning.
But life in the 21st century is all about constant, rapid change, and I’m trying to be accepting. When our household first got dial-up internet service in 1997, I never would’ve imagined that within a few years, I’d be reading books, magazines and newspapers online. Or that I’d be able to order whatever I wanted or needed from Amazon dressed in pajamas at midnight. Or that I’d have a little smart-aleck smartphone that could talk back to me, take pictures and keep me plugged in to the internet nonstop.
Who woulda thunk it? But as philosopher Alan Watts said, if I’m going to make sense out of change, I better plunge into it, move with it and join the dance. I think I can still do some plunging and moving, but dancing is not as easy these days. Osteoarthritis sees to that.
So, Prime Time is a little different now, but I’m going to embrace the change. I can dance with that. It’s cozier now. I’ll be sharing column duties with several talented writers, including my former Prime Time editor, Doug Showalter. I’m sure Doug will have more fun writing for Prime Time than editing, as once upon a time he had to constantly remind a certain rambling freelance writer to keep within her allotted word count. I think I know her.
Yep, life is change. After all, where would we be if we didn’t change our underwear or change the oil in our cars? And as another philosopher, Reinhold Niebuhr, once said, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” It’s February in Indiana. Crocuses might bloom. And if there’s a basketball tourney scheduled, it’s a certainty: There will be snow.
Sharon Mangas can be reached at sharon.d.mangas@gmail.com.
